PAWS AS PAINTBRUSHES, BEAR DEBUTS ARTWORK AT FINNISH GALLERY|熊掌揮毫 芬蘭棕熊開抽象畫展

Artists usually make a point of going to their exhibit openings to talk about their work with potential buyers, but one painter in Finland decided to take a long nap instead and his very own exhibit opening. The artist's name is Juuso and surprisingly, Juuso is a brown bear. The exhibition, entitled "Strong and soft touches", has drawn a huge crowd at a gallery in Helsinki, Finland's capital. The artist behind the 11 original works of art on display, is Juuso. He is Finland's fastest rising artist, and probably the largest - because he is a 423-kilogram brown bear. ==PASI JANTTI Juuso's keeper== Juuso makes art in his own time. If we ask him to make art he does nothing. He does all the work in his own time when we are leaving him alone. Like most great artists, Juuso is also not always in the 'mood', so his keepers leave the drawing materials at his disposal early in the morning. He uses his whole body, especially his paws as paintbrushes. Juuso, who is 17 years old now, favors blue and red, the keeper said, adding that the paints used posed no health risk to the bear. His talents were discovered when keepers were redecorating buildings at the Predator Centre in Kuusamo, northern Finland, where Juuso has lived since being orphaned as a cub. ==LINDA LUKKALA visitor== I had heard about Juuso the bear before the exhibition, so it was natural to come here. And my first expression when I came in here was that everybody was smiling. Some of the paintings feature bits of Juuso's fur. ==PEKKA SALONEN visitor== So that (is my favorite) one because there's a bear's foot. This is a big one it's not like my hand, it's strong. Some prints have sold for more than US$4,000. Funds raised from the exhibition are used to make a documentary about bears and also to help provide for other orphaned bears. TRANSLATED BY:SASHA CHIU